A Study On Strategies To Build Shanghai Into An International Cultural Metropolis

After30years of reform and opening up, China’s overall strength has made greatprogress. There is vigorous development in various fields. The pace of urban developmenthas speeded up and a large number of cities with fast economic development and high profitgrowth have sprung up in China. These cities are full of skyscrapers, wide roads andsatisfying living facilities, and the quality of life of the people has been improvedsignificantly. Some Chinese cities have been on the international stage and becomeinternational metropolises which attract world’s attention. Shanghai, one of China’smega-cities, has surely become an international metropolis. However, drawbacks are exposedin the process of city construction, for example, Shanghai lacks soft power to participate ininternational competition and its cultural industry lags behind.The eighteenth People’s Congress proposed the strategy of “innovation-driven,transformation and development” to achieve national rejuvenation. Culture has become a keydevelopment area, and the development of culture and the enhancing of its soft power areindispensible parts of urban construction. Shanghai is in a critical period of transformationand development, how to improve their "soft power"? What are the supports to a new roundof construction of urban functions? The most effective way is Shanghai’s own culturaldevelopment strategy. Only by implementing the strategy can Shanghai enhance its overallstrength to better participate in world-city competition, and finally become an internationalcultural metropolis.This paper consists of four parts, following the logical order of theoreticalintroduction----analysis---questions----solutions. The paper analyses strategies in relatedareas and finally proposes appropriate strategies to solve the problem of urban culturedevelopment.The introduction is the first part of this paper, which mainly discusses the researchbackground and the significance of the topic. The introduction part also reviews researchstatus at home and abroad, introduces research ideas and methods, and clarifies theinnovation views in this paper.The second part gives the definition of a cultural metropolis and summarizes the significance of the cultural metropolis strategy for the development of Shanghai. Examplesare given of the world-famous city’s cultural strategy cases, for example, London, New York,Singapore, and Hong Kong. The paper discusses the different cultural background andpolitical systems of these four cities. It also analyses the urban culture strategies in each ofthe cities and their respective achievements.The third part recognizes the past achievements in the process of Shanghai’s culturalmetropolis strategy development. It also analyses the problems exposed in the process. Thispaper pays special attention to some of the more prominent issues including industrialstructure, personnel training, facilities development, heritage protection, quality of the peopleand many other aspects.Part four presents strategies to solve the problems exposed in the implementation of thestrategy of cultural metropolis of Shanghai. The paper poses a series of measures coveringgovernment policies, industry structure, facilities, revival of historical remains, improving thequality of public etc. The author sincerely hopes these suggestions have implications on theconstruction of Shanghai into an international cultural metropolis.